"I'll Be Back in an Hour. Are You Boys Sure You Know What You're Doing?"

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Iran Wins

[posted by Callimachus]

Iran gives the White House a beatdown lesson in media management. It was a textbook operation, perfectly executed. Geneva Conventions? Sure, sure, violations, technicalities, fine print. Everyone pays it lip service but not one in a million in the world really reads the damned things or knows what it says and what it doesn't say.

No, it's all about pictures and images. And now the world's been flooded with miles of footage of smiling British captives sitting comfortably, eating well, writing letters home specifically praising the good treatment of the Iranian people. And the gracious gesture of a "gift" release, on the Prophet's birthday, after the sailors admited to the crime.

Contrast that to the miles of footage of Abu Ghraib, of Guantanamo, of the millions of words in coverage and commentary on the shabby kangaroo court trials and hot potato verdicts in cases like Hicks', of the unanswered allegations of torture by KSM.

Which hardly represents the reality of American military protocol, or of Iranian justice. But who's paying attention to ultimate realities? Do they even exist anymore?

Who won this one? Whose civilization looks superior? Do I even have to ask?